Together with... #BEin

“#BEin is a supportive space for us to speak our minds. Everyone has different backgrounds and experiences which helps us to grow and be creative with our ideas.”

Zhane Lunan, Phoenix resident

#BEin is a community focused youth leadership group which supports 16-25-year-olds in Lewisham to use their voice and develop skills to build brighter futures.

The group are passionate about ensuring that young people are heard and represented and have continued to make a difference during the pandemic through a series of virtual events, workshops and consultations.

#BEin hosted four workshops for ‘Summer Fun’, a programme of activities for Phoenix families to enjoy, as well as a panel discussion for Phoenix staff and residents on Diversity Day.

At their weekly #BEin training workshops, they invite guest speakers, linking young people, residents and staff up with key people in the community.

Kajoriya, who joined #BEin in 2019, said: “We wanted to pick topics that are most relevant and explored things like managing money, developing a plan for success and taking control of your own situation. The workshops were really inspiring and helped us to build confidence leading sessions virtually.”

#BEin members receive mentoring and one to one support to help with their own development and growth. As well as supporting other young people in the community, the group support each other through regular check ins.

Zhane, who has been a part of #BEin from the start, said: “#BEin is a supportive space for us to speak our minds. Everyone has different backgrounds and experiences which helps us to grow and be creative with our ideas.”

#BEin have big plans for the future. In December 2020, they presented the idea to launch a youth leadership panel to the Phoenix Gateway Committee which would provide a route for younger residents to get involved with our formal governance. The Gateway Committee agreed the proposal and the panel is due to form later this year.

The group have also received funding to create WellBEin packs to help young people access basic sanitary products. The group are working hard to prepare the packs for distribution in September.

More information will be released on our website.

Our Community Chest

Voters

  • 615 residents voted for Community Chest projects to run in 2020-21

Money awarded

  • Supported 10 projects. All projects needed to adapt to the pandemic, and some were not able to get started until this year

Learning and employment support

Apprenticeships

  • Supported 5 apprentices in Phoenix and 2 in Phoenix Repairs Service

Resident training

  • 493 spaces for training courses were offered to residents and people living in our community

Supported into work

  • Supported 8 people into work, 7 were Phoenix residents

Young people

Opportunities

  • Held 17 children and young people consultations and 29 workshops for young people

Summer fun

  • Summer Fun 2020 took place at home this year, with 20 online workshops for the whole family and goody bag activity packs for young people

Creating a community where everyone can thrive

To promote equality, diversity and equal opportunities, we have:

Equality

  • Carried out 17 Equality Impact Assessments

Gender pay gap

  • Completed a gender and ethnicity pay gap assessment. We have a 4.5% median gender pay gap and a -1.1% mean gender pay gap. There is a 7.7% median ethnicity pay gap and a 2.8% mean ethnicity pay gap. This means there is little difference between the average pay for male and female staff, but on average staff from different minority ethnic groups are paid less than white colleagues. We are actively working on plans to address this, particularly at a senior management level

Re-lets

  • Let 63% of our re-lets to households representing different minority ethnic groups

Equality

  • Approved the Rooney Rule, which will see us apply positive action for female and non-white applicants when future executive vacancies arise

Help & support

  • Adaptions to residents’ homes: 139 minor adaptions. 22 major adaptions

Future fit

  • Checked how representative our staff and Board are of our residents and community

Handy person

  • Completed 30 handy person repairs

Policy review

  • Revised our policy on how we make adjustments to our services to meet residents individual needs

In numbers (staff)

Gender

  • 46% of staff identify as male, and 54% of staff identify as female

Disability

  • 15 staff members have told us they have a disability

Ethnicity

  • 37% are people representing different minority ethnic groups

In numbers (residents) Phoenix as 100 people

Age

  • 23 are under 18
  • 19 are 18-30
  • 38 are 31-59
  • 17 are 60+
  • 3 Unknown

Gender

  • 56 are Female
  • 44 are Male

Ethnicity

  • 34 are White
  • 4 are Mixed
  • 3 are Asian
  • 28 are Black
  • 3 are Other
  • 1 Unknown
  • 27 prefer not to say

Disability

  • 13 live with disability
  • 32 have no disability
  • 55 Unknown

Phoenix Community Housing, The Green Man, 355 Bromley Road, London SE6 2RP.

Phoenix Community Housing Association (Bellingham and Downham Limited) is a Community Benefit Society (number 30057R). VAT number 162 4926 03. Regulator of Social Housing registration no. L4505.